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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

It has been 3 weeks since Mount Vernon School Board
Trustee’s voted unanimously to have Federal investigators take a look at the
books and allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse within the City of Mount
Vernon School district.School Board
Trustee Elias Gootzeit authored the resolution.On Monday, November 19, 2013, Gootzeit held a forum at Mandela High
School, “What to do when stopped by the police”.Many parents informed Mount Vernon Exposed
that they were outraged and troubled that a school board trustee would hold a
seminar about being stopped by the cops instead of having a seminar of
importance such as, preparing for college, or preparing for life after high
school.

The resolution unanimously approved by school board trustees
calls for School Board President Gerald Whiteside and the school attorney to
forward all allegations of corruption found on this website.As of today, school board President Gerald
Whiteside nor the school board attorney have turned over any documentation to
Federal authorities.Mount Vernon
Exposed recently revealed that the current board President, Gerald Whiteside
although a good board member, has been a less than mediocre Board
President.Whiteside has seldom sat with
Mount Vernon Superintendent Judith Johnson when preparing the tabs
(resolutions) for upcoming board meeting.This inaction on Whiteside’s behalf has led to School Board President
Len Sarver sitting with Johnson in Whiteside’s place.Sarver and Johnson have gone wild with taxpayers’
funds and have awarded lucrative contracts to cronies of Sarver and Johnson.

Last month, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed that Armani
Charter School went on a spending spree in excess of $200K of taxpayer
funds.Armani Charter School has been a
hot button topic in the City of Mount Vernon for the past several years.Debra Stern, wife of former school board
President Charles Stern, started the Armani Charter School.Parents and taxpayers have long questioned
the motives and the reasoning behind the creation of the Armani Charter School.

Debra Stern and Charles Stern had two young children
attending the Lincoln Elementary School.As the children were nearing graduation, the Sterns did not want their
children attending the Mount Vernon public middle schools.So the Sterns craftily drafted a plan that
would personally enrich them while solving the problem of the young children
attending the Mount Vernon Public Middle Schools.

While serving as Board President, Charles Stern, studied
night and day to find out where the money was in the school budget for his Charter
School.Stern had the hand of Assistant Superintendent
of Business Timothy Costello to assist in his quest to loot already cash
strapped taxpayers.Stern, Costello and
School Board Vice President Sarver are parishioners at the Sinai Free Synagogue
in Mount Vernon.

Costello publicly on several occasions spoke out against the
creation of the Armani Charter School.Costello told the public that the Armani Charter School would bankrupt
the school district.

It turns out that Costello was talking out of both sides of
his mouth when it came to the Armani Charter School.Costello’s behavior and ethics also comes
into when it comes to the Armani Charter School.

On October 28, 2013, Mount Vernon Exposed revealed to the public
that the Armani Charter School went on a wild spending spree spending in excess
of $200K on a brand new file server, custom purple molding, laptops, and
electrical service upgrades.Upon
information and belief, the electrician that did the electrical work for Armani
Charter School is connected to and is a close friend of School Board Vice
President Len Sarver.

When news broke that Mount Vernon Exposed was hot on the
trail of corruption at the Armani Charter School, Timothy Costello on orders
from School Superintendent Judith Johnson began to take steps to cover up their
criminal acts including backdating memorandums and correspondence to make it
appear that Costello’s office and the Mount Vernon City School district found
the fraud instead of Mount Vernon Exposed’s investigative team.

On September 25, 2013, Costello sent a letter to the
attention of Debra Stern at the Armani Charter School.The letter stated that 17 students were
discharged from the Armani Charter School and that Armani Charter School
officials were indeed billing taxpayers erroneously.The letter also stated that an investigation
by City of Mount Vernon School district attendance officers determined based on
conversations with parents that 12 students also being billed to Mount Vernon
taxpayers were no longer attending the Armani Charter School.The Mount Vernon City School district said in
the letter that it intended to recoup the fraudulent charges by deducting
$89,635.99 from the next bi-weekly payment to the Armani Charter School.

On October 31, 2013, the Armani Charter responded to
Costello’s letter dated September 25, 2013 by stating they will be refunding
the money overbilled to Mount Vernon taxpayers.

One must wonder how long has this billing discrepancy been
going on and should taxpayers be concerned about Armani’s accounting practices
from previous years?How did Costello
detect the Armani overbilling?What
other accounts and vendors have been overbilling the Mount Vernon School
district?

The documents presented to Mount Vernon Exposed are
questionable.Under normal
circumstances, documents are time stamped by a mechanical clock so there is a
record of when the said document was received.The documents from Armani Charter School reviewed by Mount Vernon
Exposed were not time stamped by the clock instead they were stamped with a ink
pad that can be easily obtained at Target or Staples.

School Board members must remain focused and not get
distracted from doing their jobs.They
do not work at the pleasure of the school board attorney and the Superintendent
of Schools.School Board President
Gerald Whiteside must do as he was directed, and serve the taxpayer by turning
over all allegations of corruption to Federal authorities.Mr. Whiteside must step up or step down.We are watching you Mr. Whiteside and
everything that you do! Remember you were elected to serve the taxpayers in
good faith, let your conscience be your guide!!!

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Here at Mount Vernon Exposed we are 120% committed to keeping the public informed as to how their tax dollars are being spent. We investigate all allegations of corruption and when appropriate forward the information to the proper authorities. All leads will be investigated. E:Mail your tips and/complaints to mountvernonexposed@gmail.com. You may be entitled to a reward if the information you supply leads to an arrest and conviction of a public official.